Lambda Variant Influx from Japan Just Before Olympics... "Government Suspected of Concealment"

"Suga to Report to Prime Minister in 3 Weeks"
No Information Shared with Olympic Organizing Committee or Local Governments

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suhwan] The Japanese government revealed that the Lambda variant of COVID-19, which has been spreading mainly in South America, first entered Japan just before the opening of the Olympics last month, but Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga was only informed three weeks after the variant was confirmed.

According to the Tokyo Shimbun on the 27th, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare stated at the House of Councillors Health, Labour and Welfare Committee meeting the previous day that Prime Minister Suga was informed of the Lambda variant after the National Institute of Infectious Diseases of Japan confirmed it as the Lambda variant on the 13th of this month, 21 days later.

Earlier, a woman in her 30s related to the Olympics, who had stayed in Peru and then came to Japan, tested positive for COVID-19 at Haneda Airport quarantine three days before the Olympics opening, on the 20th of last month.

On the 23rd of the same month, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases confirmed that this woman was infected with the Delta variant, and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare notified this on the same day, but it was not immediately reported to Prime Minister Suga.

Information about the Delta variant had already been conveyed early through local media.

On the 6th of this month, some local media reported that the Lambda variant was first confirmed in Japan, and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare acknowledged this.

However, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare explained that the Lambda variant was reported to Prime Minister Suga and Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato on the 13th, five days after the Olympics closing.

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare also revealed that the Lambda variant was reported to Health Minister Norihisa Tamura even later, on the 16th.

Mizuho Fukushima, a member of the Social Democratic Party, criticized that the timing when Minister Tamura grasped the related information was "too late."

Some have raised suspicions that the authorities deliberately delayed the announcement to prevent criticism of the Olympics from spreading and belatedly acknowledged that the confirmed case was related to the Olympics.

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare also raised doubts by failing to share information about passengers who may have had close contact with the woman infected with the Lambda variant on the aircraft with the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee or related local governments.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.